crowley



.1. P. CROWLEY.

APPARATUS FOR AND METHOD OF DRAWING SHEET GLASS.

' APPLICATION FILED MAY 16, 1919.

1,428,533. PatentedSept. 12,1922.

4k w? Wlbg WITNESSES INVENTOR zawmwww XT M' ATTORNEY Patented Sept. 12, 1922. i h 1,428,533

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPIIP. CROWLEY, OF TOLEDO, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE LIBBEiY-OWVENS SHEET GLASS COMPANY, OF TOLEDO, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF OHIO. I

APPARATUS FOR AND METHOD OF DRAWING SHEET GLASS.

Application filed May 16, 1919, Serial No. 297,667.

T all whom it may concern through the machine showing the width of Be it known that I, JOSEPH P. CRoWLnY, the sheet and the machine.

a citizen of theUnited States, residing at The prepared molten glass 4, is contained 55 Toledo, in the county of Lucas and State oi? in the receptacle, 5, and its temperature is Ohio, have invented a new and useful Au 'maintained by means of the oil or gas burnparatus for and Method of Drawing Sheet ers, 11, directed through the openings, 10,

Glass, of which-the following; is a specifica into the heating chambers 9. The sheet 3 is" tion. v drawn upwardly 'from the mass at, over the 60 Myinvention relates to'the improvements suitably driven rotary member 7, and thence 1.0 in the art of drawing continuous sheet glass passed downwardly through the annealing vertically from a prepared mass of molten chamber 17. I employ or'use the box secglass and has tor'its object ameans of protioned'rotor, '7, mounted upon the journals,

ducing sheet glass efficiently and with a 21, and, 32, and driven in the direction in- 65 small outlay of machinery. I dicated by the arrow Fig. 1 by means of the In bending sheet glass from a vertical to worm, 29, and thewormwheel, 28. The roa horizontal. plane, by means of a roll, iietor has for its supports, the bearing boxes, fects, such as impressions,set wrinkles and which are fastened to the brackets, 30. warpage, occasionally take place causing This rotor furnishes all the draught neces- 7O considerable loss in production. It is nocsary to pull a sheet oi glass and contains essary to have the very mosthomogeneous the flattening means needed to flatten out metal in the roll to overcome impressions the sheet in allotted lengths. and it is necessary to have exact tempera The vacuum width maintaining device" tures of the roll and sheet at the bending consists of the pipes, 23, having pieces, 24-, 75 point so as to avoid sticking and warping. made preferably of carbon but of any de- 25 The use of knurled rollers as a width sired material, fastened together tightly as maintaining device destroys the strip of shown in Figs. 2' and 4. The members, 24, glass wrung between them. They also at are submerged into the molten glass, 4, at times affect the flatness and thicknessot the any desired depth and placed directly op- 80 glass in the sheet that lies adjacent and parposite one another at distance correspond allel to the knurled edge. ing to the width of the sheet required. The

The specific object of my invention is to cored spaces, 26, may lead to a pump or to provide a simple and novel means for hanany other means that would cause a suction dling the drawn sheet in its plastic state in the direction of the arrow, Fig. 2. The 85 whereby it is'simult'aneously flattened and fine slots, 25, are sawed through the walls its direction of travel changed to facilitate of, 2a, on the side adjacent to the edges of the annealing and further handling of the the sheet, 3. When the air in the space, 26, sheet. A novel system for maintaining the is withdrawn, the atmospheric pressure upon width of the sheet is also disclosed, which has the surface of the molten glass, 4-, will force 0 been made the subject natterof a divisional the glass against the member, 24. These 40application. Serial Numbera49,756, filed slots, 25, are not large enough to admit Marchh, 1921. i glass. As the glass, 4 is continuously Referring to the drawing drawn into sheet form, so is the glass against Fig. 1 is a longitudinal section through the member, 24;, continuously drawn into 95 my apparatus and the receptacle containing the edges of the sheet and at thesame time the prepared mass of molten glass. continuously replaced against the member,

Fig. 2a a partial transverse section ot' 24, by suction or vacuum. The edges pro- Fig. 1' showing the device I employ for duced on sheet, '3, will round off, leaving a maintaining the width by'holding the edges rather straight and smooth surface. This 100 of the sheet. c is desired as it facilitates handling and Fig. 3 is'a detail section through the sheet eliminates unnecessary trimming such as edge holding device. v cutting ofi? knurled edges. 7 p

Fig. 4 'is'a vertical transverse section, The fluid cooled pipes, 12, are used to regulate the temperature and plasticity of the glass, 13, which is not the sheet, 3, nor the mass of molten glass, 4, but that portion of glass, raised above the glass level of the mass, 4, which has a higher temperature and plasticity than the sheet, 3, and a lower temperature than the glass, 4t. In other words it isa desired portion of glass that I intend to work upon to obtain the best results in the sheet from the mass of glass and I therefore show no burners or coolers in close proximity with the surface of the mass of molten glass, l, but on the other hand-allow it to be subject to a uniform and steady temperature provided by the chambers, 1 and 2, which retain any radiated heat. Surrounding said chambers are the walls let.

The burners, 20, directed through the holes, 19, into the chambers, 16, which are surrounded by the walls, 17, furnish the necessary heat to retard the cooling of the sheet, 3, as it passes between the guide rollers, 15.

The wind pipe, 31, is directed through the opening, 22, Fig. 1, for the purpose of cooling the rotor, 7, and especially for reducing the temperature of the surface, 6, in order to avoid its sticking to the sheet, 3. The special steel points, 8, are used to eliminate the wearing away of the corners of the rotor, 7. The reason that I employ a rotor, having flat sides and sharp corners is to concentrate the pulling strain upon the corners and allow the sheet to conform with the flatness of the sides.

While the rotor 7 is illustrated as having four equal faces 6, symmetrically arranged about the axis of the rotor, any other suitable number of faces could be used. Preferably the rotary member would be made as large as practicable, thus increasing the area of each panel 6, and providing larger panels of the finished glass.

In operation, the drawing of the sheet is started by means of a suitable bait, as is customary in this art, and the sheet is passed up and over the rotary member 7. As the hot molten glass rises between the pipes 12, its surface becomes chilled and smooth, and less plastic, and the glass stretches out to the desired strength, depending on the speed at which the sheet is drawn, and the surrounding temperatures. The suction devices 24 hold the sources of the sheet edges out to the desired width. The sharp edges 8 of the member 7, engage and bite into the inner surface of the sheet, furnishing the necessary draft, and preventing slippage of the sheet on the flattening surfaces 6. It will be noted that the perpendicular distance from the axis of rotor 7 to the center of one of the faces 6, is somewhat less than the distance from the axis to one of the corners 8. This will cause the drawn sheet to swing back and forth through a slight angle,

There is a tendency for the sheet to draw vertically at all times, but the molten glass at the draw point is so stiff and sluggish that it cannot move back and forth in unison with the swinging sheet but remains practically stationary, the sheet simply swinging about the draw-point as a fulcrum.

The sheet is not severed by the members 8, but maintains its continuity, and after leaving the rotor 7 is still sufliciently plastic to straighten out along these thinned lines and pass down bet-ween the guide-rolls 15 into the annealing chamber.

What I claim is 1. In a continuous sheet glass drawing apparatus, a rotary device having a circumferential series of plane surfaces for engaging the sheet and changing its direction of travel, and for simultaneously flattening the sheet into a series of connected flat sections.

2. In an apparatus for continuously drawing sheet glass, a rotary-device for flattening the sheet and changing its direction of travel, the sheet carrying surface of said device comprising a series of plane surfaces symmetrically arranged about the axis of the device, and sharp wear-resisting members at the edges formed by the intersecting plane surfaces, said edges engaging and holding the sheet, and the sheet being flattened upon the intermediate plane surfaces.

In an apparatus for drawing sheet glass, a rotary device for flattening the sheet and changing its direction of travel, said device having a series of plane sheet engaging faces, the edges formed by the intersecting plane surfaces serving as sheet gripping means, thus relieving the flattened portions of the sheet from undue strain.

4. In an apparatus for drawing sheet glass, a rotary drawing and flattening device, about which the sheet is passed, the sheet carrying surface of said device comprising a series of flat faces symmetrically arranged about the periphery of the rotary device, and means for internally cooling said fiat surfaces.

5. The method of drawing acontinuous sheet of glass, which consists in preparing a mass of molten glass, drawing a sheet upwardly therefrom, flattening the sheet in a. series of connected sections, and simultaneously swinging the successive sections through an angle of approximately 180, and then passing the sheet downwardly through suitable guides into an annealing chamber.

6. The method of drawing sheet glass, which consists in preparing a mass of molten glass, chilling the glass at the place from which the sheet is drawn, drawing a sheet upwardly from this chilled mass, permanently flattening spaced connected portions of the sheet and simultaneously changing the direction of travel of the sheet, and then direction of travel of the sheet, and then passing the sheet into an annealing champassing the sheet into an annealing cham- 10 her. her.

7. The method of drawing sheet glass, 5 which consists in drawing a sheet upwardly JObEPH CROWLEY from a mass of molten glass, permanently WVitnesses: flattening spaced connected portions of the EDWARD W. WALLEY, sheet, and at the same time changing the JNO. C. CROWLEY. 

